You may know Jerry Recco as a sports radio personality on WFAN’s morning show, or as the play-by-play voice of Rutgers men’s basketball. But in Hazlet, he’s the coach of two high-level youth baseball teams on which his sons play.

So Recco knows a thing or two about a topic that sparks spirited debate: the value of participation trophies.

“I wasn’t even aware of it until my oldest, who is now 13, got a trophy for playing a year in tee ball and I said, ‘OK this is cute I suppose, they’re trying to keep the kids interested,’” he said. “Then I saw it the year after and the year after . . . It’s become more and more important to the kids and the parents alike to the point where they’re disappointed if they don’t get one.”

Recco discussed the issue at length as the latest guest on the Asbury Park Press’ Create an Athlete podcast. It became a flashpoint of national debate two years ago when Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison announced on social media that he returned his kids’ participation trophies because they hadn’t earned them. They were 8 and 6 years old.

The way Hazlet baseball has handled it in the past, Recco said, is this: “Kids get a trophy for participating, no doubt, but there would be championship games, and there’s a big difference between a championship trophy and a small, stock trophy. I don’t love it, but I do understand it because I’ve seen how demanding the parents have been.”

Although he’s never had problem parents involved with his teams, Recco said, “Parents are spending more money than ever on all these sports now.” Club and travel teams are booming at the expense of rec and Little League, he said, “because every parent thinks their kid is the next Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth or Derek Jeter.”

So those parents are shelling out substantial dollars, in many cases, and are “looking for anything they can get in return for their dollar.”

As a result, he said, club and travel squads have become something closer to pay-to-play situations than the all-star showcases they were a generation ago. It all adds up to a participation-rewards culture.

“As the kids have gotten older they’ve accepted losing a lot more than they did when I was growing up,” he said. “At the end of the season it’s, ‘OK, everybody’s a winner.' I don’t think that’s a great way to be. It’s like a softening up of the kids.”

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